silverchair
never fail to amaze me. Apparently the crowd at this show
would agree with my statement. Their stage presence is certainly
strong, as Daniel and Chris bound confidently about the stage,
and Ben beats upon his drums with sheer force. The musical
precision that the band has fine-tuned over the years is at
peak levels. silverchair are most definitely "All this
and more."

Working
on about a half-hour delay throughout the day, it was finally
time for silverchair to come onstage. Orgy had just gotten
done energizing the crowd, and it would left up to silverchair
to carry the momentum. The crowd started to thin out drastically
during the break while the road crew set up the band's equipment.
This thinning would only be temporary, however, and when the
WBCN DJ showed up on stage announcing the the upcoming band,
the ampitheatre once again became a flood of people.

I was
fortunate enough to be watching this show from stage-right,
very near to where Daniel would be standing for the next 45
minutes. The ever-so-familiar Taxi Driver theme came blaring
out of the house PA system. Cheers from the crowd filled the
air when they caught the first glimpses of Daniel, Chris,
and Ben heading onto the stage. Daniel came in my direction
to retrieve his green PRS from guitar tech Bailey Holloway.
You know, I love that guitar! On many occasions I have considered
"borrowing" it from Daniel.

There
they were, onstage, ready to go. They would launch into Slave
merely a few seconds later. This was a classic opener--one
they had not used much since the Freak Show tour. The wonderful
thing was that this was a festival show, so the band was turned
up to higher volume levels than they would be, had this been
a normal small-venue show that they are used to. At least
it seemed this way to me. It seems to make sense. Every note
of the heavy intro just vibrated through my chest.

silverchair
played a nice mixture of their old and new material, with
Pure Massacre right after Slave. We even got a full-band rendition
of Tomorrow, which was both surprising and nice. After either
not playing it, or having Daniel solo, it was cool to hear
the original song. I figure that Daniel playing it solo is
just not festival material, and they probably wanted more
people to recognize their singles and everything--to get more
people into it.

My Neon
Ballroom favorite, Point of View followed next, and I was
very happy to again hear the song live. Sam adds in a quiet
but nice touch on the keyboards during this track (and much
of the show, actually) that makes the song(s) sound more full
and gives sort of a more poppy feel to the songs. I hate to
describe it like that, but I guess having the keyboards makes
the songs seem more active. That may be a better description.

"Do
any of you believe in shooting ducks?" Daniel would say
to us after the guitar change. Some of the crowd cheered "yes!"
loudly. He then went on to say that, "Anyone who answered
yes is a fuckwit." He continued mumbling into the mic
though that he understands that at a rock concert it's very
possible that people are just yelling to hear themselves.
I knew what was coming next, as he always tries to rile up
the crowd before they launch into The Door. Wasting no time,
"Do any of you believe in Jesus?" The crowd replied
with a weak mixture of cheers and "No!" Daniel would
then mumble, "Thirteen." And Daniel was then met
with huge cheers when he asked, "Does anyone here believe
in Satan?" His decision was made--"Twenty-six, Satan
wins."

I was
immensely impressed with the band's entire set. Freak and
Anthem closed out the show, and the guys left the stage, Daniel
taking a beach ball with him. After the show, John Watson
commented that he thought the vocals for Tomorrow were exceptional,
and I had to agree. It was the best version of it I have heard
in a long time. The band seemed pretty into it. And so, there
was River Rave in Mansfield. Onto Radio 104 Fest in Hartford!